“21” – Touchscreen FX Controller for Traktor Pro 2 (Lemur for iOS)

[popoff44]

Hello,

I would like to share a simple yet powerful touchscreen MIDI controller I made using Lemur for iOS. I call it “21” because it puts 21 of your favorite effects in Traktor at your fingertips. Literally. It doesn’t offer any effect presets, but instead lets you create your own combinations on the fly. The freely assignable touch-sensitive XY pads with optional physic allow for quick effect inserts and some extra craziness.

First, here is what you’ll need aside from Traktor and iPad.

• Lemur for iOS installed on your iPad: http://liine.net/en/products/lemur/
• Lemur Editor installed on your Mac or PC: http://liine.net/en/support/
• My Lemur template: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8992976/My21FX.jzml
• My Traktor mapping: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8992976/my21FX.tsi

Additionally, you’ll need to trim down the list of effects in Traktor to exactly 21. This can be done through “Preferences -> Effects -> FX Pre-Selection”. If your list of effects differs from mine, you’ll also need to use Lemur editor to make changes to the effect names in the template. Unfortunately, those are hard-coded and can’t be easily changed on the fly. Needless to say, the order of effects must be exactly the same both in Traktor preferences and in the template.

NOTE: The controller is designed to work with 4 FX units. Make sure Traktor is configured accordingly.

I won’t explain how to load the template into Lemur running on iPad or how to load the mapping in Traktor. Those processes are very well documented in many other places.

Here is a screenshot of the controller with most functions explained. It’s just one page that consists of 4 FX units. Each unit can be switched between “Single” and “Group” modes with most of the controls effectively mirroring those of the FX units as they appear in the Traktor interface. The layout is a bit different though.



Below the regular effect controls is a section that lets you assign any of the three sliders controlling fx amount (in Group mode) or fx parameters (in Single mode) to X and Y of the XY pad. If any of the sliders is assigned, XY pad will turn the effect on while being touched. This is great for creating quick filter sweeps, drum fills, short glitches, etc.

NOTE: It’s recommended to assign each parameter (in Single mode) or effect (in Group mode) to only one axis of the XY pad. Assigning one thing to both X and Y isn’t very useful and can create unexpected results.

The “Invert” button will invert the X/Y control to go from 1 to 0 instead of 0 to 1. This can be useful with certain types of effects.

And finally, the button marked with “P” will turn on/off the physic for its respective XY pad. This can help create some extra madness with an additional layer of modulation.

NOTE: When “P” is enabled the XY pad is no longer touch-sensitive and effects need to be turned on and off using the corresponding buttons. This is because you’ll probably want to change the direction of the ball while it’s bouncing. Attraction, friction, speed, etc. are not adjustable. You may change those by editing the template.

One last thing – everything is mapped for two-way communication. In other words, if something changes in Traktor (for example, you use a different controller to select an effect or change any of the parameters), the change will be immediately reflected on the controller screen.

Have fun and please let me know if you have any questions or comments ☺

P.S. If you are running iOS 5, you’ll wish it was possible to disable multi-touch gestures on iPad ☺

P.P.S. A couple more screenshots of the controller in action.

[popoff44]

Forgot to mention - in Single mode you can store FX preset (standard Traktor function, nothing special here) by touching Dry/Wet fader + FX reset button. The fader sends a message when touched which is used as Shift in the mapping.

[Samurai]

What a great template! Thanks for all your work and sharing this. I had been looking for something just like it and was surprised to see there was something of a gap so you've definitely filled in a big hole.

Easy setup and wow - this is the Lemur FX controller of which I had dreamed. It literally puts the power of Traktor's best effects at my fingertips and it's so well designed for touch. This is a really sweet compliment to any setup. Definitely putting more value into the cost of the app.

Major props. Great template. I'm glad I just started using Traktor because I wouldn't want to control the effects any other way.

[zestoi]

awesome work! it's stuff like this that makes me want to buy an ipad... specifically the ability to actually view the list of available effects on the ipad and select from them. this is the kind of thing that sets a touch screen interface like an ipad apart from other controllers

[fullenglishpint]

fantastic work, just trying it out now and all seems excellent.

[popoff44]

This is so awesome! Thanks, guys. I'm very glad you liked it.

I started off with TouchOSC and was experimenting for a very long time with other layouts that didn't necessarily mirror the actual FX units in Traktor. As a result, my mappings were getting super-complex and most importantly couldn't be easily modified to change the pre-programmed FX combinations. I didn't like that because I couldn't improvise with what effects I wanted to use at any given time.

The goal here was to create something that allows for full control of the individual FX units in Traktor so you can quickly come up with new ideas. If anything, this type of controller is good for exploring new FX combinations. I'm actually thinking of creating a separate mapping for another controller I use or just another page in this template to quickly load my favorite FX combinations. The great thing about that is that it will be super-easy to do. I don't need to bother with modifiers or mapping controls individually for each FX combo anymore. Just load a specific effect, which is literally one line in the mapping, and everything else will just automatically populate on the controller screen! That's the idea at least

P.S. I'm also working on an additional page for this template to control the decks. Similar to the effect units, each deck will be switchable between "Transport" and "Cues" views to access the basic transport/move functions and cues/pre-set loops respectively. It's a lot of work and will take some time, but I'll update the thread when the new version is available.

[padi_04]

It is possible to disable multitouch in iOS 5 (at least on iPad 1), check the general preference tab.

Nice map btw.

[popoff44]

I just checked and you are correct, sir I don't know how I could possibly miss it before... Thank you.

It is possible to disable multitouch in iOS 5 (at least on iPad 1), check the general preference tab.

Nice map btw.

[TwistedPanda]

I had a $50 iTunes gift card I was sitting on, trying to figure out what to do. This sold me on Lemur. This is an incredibly inspirational mapping. I'm starting to dream about possibilities for a preset driven FX mapping of my own. This post not only gives me insight into what's possible with Lemur, it'll help me find some new FX combos to use. Seriously. Freaking brilliant!

[Lett]

Awsome mapping! very useful! It would be cool if you create more mappings like this one
great work